


Mission: Get Kang Daniel's Attention

by kkoma



Category: Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Unrequited Love, basically jihoon trying to find out if daniel's gay, danhoon, daniel is dense af, mentions of mature content, mentions of rl nielwink moments, nielwink, slight angst, wanna one doesn't know how gay they are yet, winkniel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-05-06
Packaged: 2019-04-25 07:50:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14374248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kkoma/pseuds/kkoma
Summary: He needed to know. Jihoon needed to know. For the sake of his sanity, he desperately needed to know.The one question lingering in his mind 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a yea- okay, maybe not that long. But for a good (and long) 3 months, Park Jihoon had developed an undeniable affection for Kang Daniel.Now that he had come to acknowledge and accept his feelings, there was only one question left unanswered;Does Kang Daniel swing that way?Because if he did, Jihoon was confident in claiming the ultimate prize. The prize half of South Korea’s population yearned for.Prize: Kang Daniel’s Heart.





	1. Step 1: The Mirroring Law

Much to the other members’ amusement, Jihoon had been a huge fan of the TV series Heart Signal. They could tease him all they wanted, but he felt a _genuine_ connection with the cast on the show. To be amongst so many people vying for the same person, it was a battle every day. And amongst the millions of people vying for Kang Daniel, Park Jihoon was one of them.

 

He remembered Daniel teasing him for being a fan of the show too, but had also admitted to skimming through the first few episodes of it. If Daniel had watched the first few episodes, surely he would’ve seen the part about ‘The Mirroring Law of Attraction’, right?

 

 **The Mirroring Law of Attraction:**  To subconsciously mirror the actions or movements of a person you’re interested in.

 

Jihoon decided he didn’t need his subconscience to do the work for him when he had been _long_  conscious of how he felt towards Daniel.

 

_If I continuously mirror Daniel hyung’s actions, would he notice and take the hint?_

 

His lips sprouted into a wide grin, slightly giddy just thinking about having Daniel focus his attention on him, having Daniel hold him in his arms and kiss- Jihoon was snapped out of his trance when the door to his shared room with Woojin abruptly opened. Daniel’s head peeked in, eyes landing on Jihoon’s awkwardly standing figure before breaking out into a smile.

 

“Jisung hyung says to get ready, we’re leaving for the fansign in 30 minutes.”

 

Jihoon tried to play it cool, as if he wasn’t just fantasizing about being held in Daniel’s arms. However, his habits betrayed him as he chewed on his bottom lip bashfully before managing a small nod and a quick smile Daniel’s way.

 

“I’ll be out in 10.”

 

Daniel lets slip a chuckle before leaving the room and Jihoon feels giddy all over again. For reasons unbeknownst to Jihoon, Daniel seemed to find every little thing about Jihoon amusing. But, well, Jihoon _definitely_ wasn’t complaining.

 

 

 

 

Throughout the ride to the fansign, Jihoon couldn’t help but sulk. He tried to hide it, but he obviously wasn’t hiding it well enough judging from Woojin’s constant snickering.

 

After Daniel left the room, Jihoon hadn’t been done in 10 minutes. He had taken 17 minutes and for whatever dumb reason, the managers had decided to take 6 of the members to the fansign first. He knew the reason, actually (Woojin had explained) and it wasn’t, _well,_ unreasonable; there was bad traffic on the road and if at least some of them reached the fansign on time, it could distract fans from the absence of the rest. It was better than having all 11 of them turn up late and disappointing fans who had spent so much time lining up for the event. The 5 younger ones had been the last to shower -  _damn his younger age -_ and so they took the second van, separating Jihoon from Daniel.

 

Since everybody in the second van had already caught on to Jihoon’s foul mood anyway, whatnot with Woojin constantly nudging him and receiving an annoyed growl in response, he proceeded to grumbling under his breath; something along the lines of _Bratty Woojin_ and _I’m older by 6 months, I should have showered first and taken the first van -_ even though he knew he might not have made it in time to take the first van with Daniel anyway.

But Park Jihoon was never reasonable or rational when it came to Kang Daniel.

Woojin – the only one who knew about Jihoon’s crush – merely rolled his eyes after picking up on Jihoon's grumbling and obnoxiously shifted loudly in his seat to find a comfortable position to nap in. Jihoon’s glare was fixed on Woojin, silently wishing looks could kill. Meanwhile, the other 3 boys looked on quizzically. And while Jinyoung and Gunalin concluded that 2Park had just had another petty argument, Daehwi’s lips bore a knowing smile.

 

 

 

 

When they reached the fansign, the sight before Jihoon only worsened his mood further, if that was even possible. The hyung line had taken their seats and on Daniel’s right was Seongwoo, while Jisung was on his left. He trudged reluctantly to the next closest seat to Daniel, 3 seats away from him. Noticing Jihoon’s disappointment screaming from his expression and overall presence, Woojin rolled his eyes out of habit and approached Daniel.

 

“Hyungs, I think the managers want us to alternate seats between the older and younger ones.”

 

Seongwoo, Jisung and Daniel all looked at Woojin in confusion.

 

“Hmm? Why didn’t manager hyung mention it before?”

 

With a shrug of their shoulders, Seongwoo and Jisung got up to move seats since Daniel still had to be seated in the center regardless. Woojin signaled Jihoon over with a slight tilt of his jaw to the empty seat on Daniel’s right, and he swore he saw Jihoon’s eyes light up instantly as he dashed over like his life depended on it.

 

By the time Jihoon was done crushing Woojin in a hurried side-hug and had taken his “rightful seat next to Daniel”, Daehwi had already claimed the seat to Daniel’s left, leaving Woojin with the seat right at the end of the line.

 

Releasing a loud sigh on purpose for Jihoon to hear, the latter read the situation before shooting Woojin an apologetic glance as the younger walked to the end to take his seat.

 

 

 

 

Throughout the fansign, Jihoon tried his best to “subconsciously” mimic Daniel’s actions.

 

When Daniel shot their fans a heart, Jihoon followed suit. When Daniel messed around with a microphone, Jihoon picked his up and did the same. Daniel had seemed to notice and once when Jihoon mirrored the older in doing aegyo, Daniel looked over at him with an amused grin plastered on his face. Jihoon’s breath seemed to hitch at that moment for two reasons.

 

 _One,_ his plan was working and it caused adrenaline to shoot through his veins.

 

 _Two,_ Daniel’s smile was just _so, so_ – well, goofy really – but also _so, so charming._

His excitement had been shortlived, however, when Jihoon’s whole plan had become way too obvious and the other members started calling him out for all their fans to hear. He needed to strike out step one before things got out of hand.

 

And so he did mentally with much reluctance.

 

~~Step 1: The Mirroring Law~~

 

 

 

 

His brain racked through ideas for a next step to get Daniel’s attention, but all attempts were futile. It was a tragedy, to say the least. His shoulders slumped, and his mood was noticeably souring again when Daniel did _anything_ but pay attention to Jihoon. But then, almost as if his desperate cries (in his head, of course) were heard, something happened. Something brilliant happened.

 

_God bless bubbles._

_Bubbles are wonderful and magical and –_

Jihoon bit down on his lips to suppress his massive smile, feigning playful annoyance as Daniel shot another set of bubbles his way.

 

_– and it made Daniel pay attention to Jihoon._

Lending Daniel the bubble gun a fan had gifted Jihoon had been his best idea yet, or at least he thought so. His smile faltered slightly when Daniel, still shooting the bubble gun, shifted his attention to Daehwi on his left instead.

 

Jihoon pretended to play it cool and busied himself with messing around with Jisung on his other side. He purposefully let out a loud chuckle, almost as if screaming _Pay attention to me, Daniel hyung!_

 

When that plan obviously didn’t work, he glanced briefly at Daniel and Daehwi, shock registering in his eyes for the briefest moment when he did. The two were now messing around with a new bubble-creating device, Jihoon’s bubble gun long forgotten. They were also  _both_ holding on to the handle of the device, fingers laying on each other’s _oh so_ casually. Jihoon couldn’t help it as his gaze shifted from the two faces, to the new device and then to their scandalous fingers. He quickly retracted his gaze before anyone could notice, an uncomfortable feeling pricking at his heart as he turned away once again. As if the sight of them hadn’t tortured him enough, the happy sound of Daniel and Daehwi’s laughter combined resonated in his ears and Jihoon willed himself not to look over.

 

His morale only spiraled downwards further when he went through the phone they had all taken selfies on and noticed Daniel and Daehwi had taken a selfie together. Not just that, but while Daniel had ignored Jihoon’s playful almost-kiss, his selfie with Daehwi consisted of the tip of his ears painted a dark red shade while Daehwi kissed his temple.

 

Jihoon thought he had heard the breaking of his _fragile, fragile_ heart for a second.

 

But no – Park Jihoon would not be defeated without a proper fight. With a determined scrunch of his nose, he readjusted his position and gave himself a mental pep talk.

 

_Come on, you know what makes Daniel laugh! If he doesn’t give you attention, **make him** give you attention._

And so began Step 2: Sticking Close and Smiling Shyly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! this is my first fanfic on here and i'm so excited to get this going. because i try to base some things in this fic on real life moments (just reimagined in my head), i'll leave some references in the notes at the end of every chapter. this chapter is short but look forward to longer upcoming ones! comments & kudos are appreciated!  
>  
> 
> ; the fansign i based this chapter on is the 170818 myeongdong fansign. 
> 
> ; nielwink did play with bubbles, and the daehwi-nielwink bubble incident did happen (it's not very talked about but i noticed it and jihoon kept glancing at the 2 of them; i linked that fansign video below)
> 
> ; the daehwi-nielwink selfie incident also happened in the same video
> 
> ; copy and paste "170818 명동 팬사인회 엔딩 다니엘 FOCUS" into youtube for the video - credits to owner of the video!


	2. Step 2: Sticking Close and Smiling Shyly

_Commence Step 2._

_Player Park Jihoon, are you ready? Yes, you are. Commence mission in 3, 2 , 1-_

Playing games till the wee hours of the morning admittedly didn’t do Jihoon much good and instead resulted in him over-dramatising every challenge in his life in his head. Nevertheless, he put on the most determined expression he could muster, hands childishly balled into fists under the table and picked up the microphone once again.

 

His game face had disappeared soon after and was replaced with confusion and frustration; Jihoon couldn’t get the microphone to turn on for the life of him, and the brat in him was starting to get annoyed. He began to chew his lip in habit again and struggled with the device for a few more seconds before a hand reached out to point at the obvious switch on the microphone. He looked up, eyes catching Daniel’s, and immediately felt his face flush an embarrassed shade of red from his cheeks to the tip of his ears, all the way down to his neck. There was an amused glint in Daniel’s eyes, but the older opted to look away and fiddle with his own microphone lest he embarrassed Jihoon further.

 

_Well, at least I got Daniel hyung’s attention… right?_

_…_

He tried to see the positive side of things, but Jihoon was also _this_ close to slamming his head against the table. Why did he _always_ have to do dumb things in front of his crush?

 

His crush. Jihoon’s _crush._

The boy’s brows furrowed at the term of endearment and immediately groaned internally as he realised he’d been acting like a lovesick high-schooler. Wait – well, he was one technically but – no, _nevermind._

_Back to my mission!_

His thumb flicked the switch to “On” casually – as if he had known how to from the start and hadn’t just acted like a complete fool in front of Daniel – and started speaking into the microphone.

 

“Ah, ah.”

 

When the mic echoed his voice across the room and Jihoon confirmed it was indeed functioning, he directed a shy gaze over his shoulder towards Daniel who had already been looking his way.

 

“Daniel.”

 

Jihoon let the older’s name roll off his tongue, an excited chuckle threatening to spill over his lips as he dropped the honorifics.

 

“Yea?”

 

At Daniel’s reply, Jihoon faltered, realising his fatal mistake of _not_ having thought this through **at all.** A sheepish chuckle was all he could manage in response before he hastily put the microphone back down and willed his cheeks not to blush for the nth time that day.

 

“Huh?”

 

Confusion laced Daniel’s next reply, but Jihoon was far too flustered to look back up at Daniel, much less come up with a sound explanation. He should definitely have planned this out better. His awkward smile dropped at the realisation that he had lost a huge chance to secure a few more minutes of Daniel’s attention – maybe with some light banter or catching him off guard with compliments, but no. _Noooo. I had to ruin the moment with a laugh. A dumb-sounding, unattractive laugh._

Jihoon then decided that the bashfulness in his laugh may have somewhat accomplished his mission, but he burst his own bubble again as it dawned upon him that it didn’t get him the _right_ kind of attention. The older seemed to feel and think nothing of the short interaction, moving on instead to interact with fans and flirt with _them –_ Jihoon’s _competitors._

 

_Okay, but they’re my fans too and it really doesn’t seem right to feel the need to compete with them but also Daniel hyung pays so much attention to them and –_

Jihoon’s never-ending internal monologue was cut short when another fan stationed themselves in front of him, holding out an album nervously for him to sign. He put on his _Jeojang Jihoon_ front once again, pushing Daniel and the plan to the back of his head for now. He needed time to think of better ideas to execute Step 2, preferably not in his current mess of a state.

 

 

 

 

After returning to their dorm that night, Jihoon made a beeline for his room. He gathered his notebook and a pen, climbing straight up to his bed on the top bunk and getting down to business.

 

Ideas for Step 2: Sticking Close and Smiling Shyly

His eyes stared intensely at the header he had scribbled down for his list but made no movement to add anything else to it. He urged his mind to think of something, _anything._

 

“Ah-ha!”

 

He made the soft exclamation under his breath, having found a way to start his train of thought. He had come up with Step 2 after, well, googling for love advice and gathering any bits and pieces of information in his head from previous dramas he had watched. In dramas, characters’ hearts would flutter when their partners acted all bashful or shy, batting their lashes but avoiding too much eye contact.

 

_Alright, batting my lashes and avoiding eye contact shyly. I could do that, that’s basically Jeojang Jihoon!  But how do I set the stage for it?_

His fingers tapped against the wooden frame of the bed and every muscle in his face scrunched in concentration. The lack of answers to his own question caused Jihoon to grow increasingly impatient, and Woojin had to throw a pillow at him to get him to stop the tapping of his fingers that only got louder. Just as he threw his head back to let out an exasperated sigh, Daniel sauntered through their door in an exaggerated manner.

 

“Your king has arrived.”

 

The intruder announced his arrival before proceeding to clear his throat loudly, as if expecting everyone else in the room to play along. But before he could evoke a reaction from anyone, he burst into a fit of giggles and chose instead to jump onto Woojin’s bed and squash said owner in the process. Jihoon glowered at Woojin, the latter catching on quick enough and sending him an annoyed look back as if he was saying _I didn’t ask for this either!_

Jihoon was not having any of it, and not-so-subtly threw some signals Woojin’s way, _Get him the fuck off of you and don’t you dare touch him._ Nobody noticed anyway, and Woojin did end up shoving Daniel onto the floor with a tired huff.

 

“You’re going to kill me one day with all the squashing, hyung. Jeez.”

 

“Aw Woojin. How do you know that wasn’t my intention to start with?”

 

Daniel exploded into another round of laughter as he and Woojin exchanged another set of snarky remarks and immature jabs. Daniel’s laughter placed a smile on Jihoon’s lips as usual, but Jihoon noted that his own smile was less lovestruck and a little more bittersweet this time.

 

The way Daniel messed around with Woojin was nothing new or out of the ordinary. In fact, it was the way Daniel _didn’t_ mess around with Jihoon like he did with nearly everyone else that was odd. Being put to compete for first place in Produce 101 took a toll on them. To start with, they hadn’t been the closest during the survival show. They belonged to very different friend groups and they never really got the chance – or looked for it – to get to know each other. It was hard, if not impossible, to get to know all 101 trainees and develop a friendship with each purely because they had much more to focus on back then. And getting attached to too many people then would have only left them upset and scarred at the end. So, yes, Daniel and Jihoon hadn’t been the closest to start with, and the forced competition made them slightly on edge around each other; not because they thought of each other as rivals, but the show and the people around them put a tense air between them.

 

But while everyone had slowly warmed up to each other after being confirmed into Wanna One, Jihoon and Daniel never quite got there. When he confided in Woojin once, Woojin had told him that Daniel mentioned casually before about how he _wanted_ to get closer to Jihoon, but the status of No.1 and No.2 seemed to put an unspoken distance between them, making it hard.

 

And it was while Jihoon was trying to break that wall Daniel thought they had that he developed affection for the older boy. As the wall slowly crumbled, he was allowed to see the more casual and natural sides of Daniel outside of being professional at work. The older was now able to act in a more carefree manner around Jihoon, but they still had some distance to close for sure. The way Jihoon was acting now because of his newfound feelings didn’t help much, however. Jihoon sometimes found himself unable to laugh at Daniel’s joke quick enough, stoning in place as he admired the older’s laugh instead. There were also times when he took a minute too long to accept Daniel's invitations to hang out, with all the excitement causing the words to jumble up in his head. Daniel seemed to take these things the wrong way as well, getting the impression that Jihoon thought he was lame or didn’t want to spend time with him. So most of the time, Daniel would hastily shut down any of his advances, afraid he was putting pressure on Jihoon.

 

Jihoon felt the need to change it, change _them._ So he was set on making Step 2 work. Because by sticking closely to Daniel, he could also show the older boy he _wanted_ to be around him and that he _enjoyed_ being around him.

 

He must have done the whole _Yes, Jihoon, you can do it! Fighting!_ thing in his head again because when he regained awareness of his surroundings, Woojin was very unsuccessfully suppressing a loud laugh and Daniel was staring up at him with a confused knit in his brows. Jihoon’s eyes shifted hurriedly from Woojin to Daniel to his own hands, noting how one was clenched in a fist and aching from where it rested on the wood in front of him. Turns out that when he was lost in thought, he had made a determined _Game on!_ gesture by punching the wooden frame of his bunk bed. Everyone in the room had averted their puzzled stares towards Jihoon and the boy really just wanted to wake up from this bad dream.

 

Daniel was the first to break the silence with one of his usual _I’m trying to hold back my laughter but I’m not great at it_ sniggers and shook his head gently, eyes raising to meet Jihoon’s.

 

“You’re weird.”

 

Jihoon’s smile crawled up to his eyes this time, albeit sheepish, saving the way Daniel said those two words so fondly in his mind. Jihoon sure in hell did _not_ want to lose this moment, so without a second of hesitation, he suggested in a near-eager tone, “Hyung, do you want to game with me?”

 

Woojin feigned hurt and called Jihoon out for his betrayal; something along the lines of _That’s our thing!_ and _Is it that easy for you to replace me, Park Jihoon?!_ But Jihoon spared him no thought and quickly dismissed Woojin’s complaints with a wave of his hands, turning back to Daniel for an answer. Much to his dismay, Daniel hadn’t agreed immediately and instead seemed to be considering something for a while. When he broke his silence and gave Jihoon a reply, Jihoon had wished he hadn’t replied at all.

 

“I promised Daehwi I’d teach him how to play MarioKart. Not exactly the kind of video games you play… but you could join us!”

 

Daniel blurted out the last part almost hastily, afraid to hurt Jihoon’s feelings. But he had promised Daehwi when the boy bugged him throughout their whole ride back, and as tempting as Jihoon’s offer was, it’d be a douche move to break his promise.

 

Jihoon, on the other hand, still hadn’t gotten over the intimate air lingering around Daniel and Daehwi during the fansign. Unsettling feelings lingered in his chest, but he decided his mission was more important than his pride. _Daniel_ was more important than his pride. So he gathered the brightest smile he could before quipping snarkily with a, “I’d love to. It’s but only my favourite game, y'know with all the skills and techniques you could master. An intriguing game, truly.”

 

Daniel picked up on the sarcasm in Jihoon’s response but let a wide grin take over his previously concerned features instead. After offering Jihoon a hand – which the younger hesitated to take because his palms had started to sweat in nervousness – to get down from the bunk bed, the two made their way into the living room (with Woojin, who had self-invited himself into the game, in tow). There they found Daehwi and Jinyoung chatting animatedly on the couch with the game console all set up and ready to go. Woojin made their presence known with a loud battle cry before tackling Jinyoung from the side of the couch, also taking the unsuspecting younger with him as they rolled off the couch from the impact. Daehwi and Daniel’s eyes met in that instant, and they shared a look before erupting into laughter simultaneously.

 

Jihoon felt a slight tightness in his chest but chose to ignore it and occupied a seat at the other end of the couch instead. He was never one for confrontation, especially when Daehwi was still a precious friend to him too. Neither did he have the right to get angry or upset at Daniel interacting with someone else. _Not yet._

Jihoon was supposed to be fighting for a seat with Daniel as according to the _Sticking Close_ part of Step 2, but he couldn’t bring himself to when he remembered the moment Daniel and Daehwi had just shared. Though in a pleasant turn of events, Daniel opted for the seat next to Jihoon and the latter felt a 180-degree change in his mood once again. As hard as he tried to pull the rising corners of his lips back down, his poker face never seemed to work much around Daniel. And so he let it be.

 

When the giddiness finally toned down and Jihoon had gotten a grip again (well, kind of), it clicked that this could be the exact kind of opportunity Jihoon had waited for to execute Step 2. The newfound confidence that _This could actually work_ spurred Jihoon on, and he had never felt so ready to end this mission in a victory.

 

He picked up a game controller first, watching as Daniel and Daehwi took one each too. They sidetracked for a moment when Jinyoung and Woojin squabbled over _Who gets the last controller?_ but Woojin proved to be the bigger brat and won in the end. Things couldn’t have turned out better for Jihoon, because Woojin being the dipshit he usually was, made an effort to constantly place obstacles specifically in front of Jihoon’s player as they raced. Jihoon then ended up being the loser while Daehwi ended up winning the race, and Daniel decided that Jihoon needed more help than the maknae.

 

Jihoon jumped on the opportunity and milked it as much as possible, asking Daniel about every little thing - as if he hadn’t played MarioKart a thousand times before. Woojin caught onto this and, once again being the asshole he was, decided it was a great idea to aim all his ‘weapons’ at Daehwi instead this time get _him_ to lose. Jihoon, however, shot a smirk Woojin’s way and ran his character into the wall over and over again, feigning disappointment and murmuring a loud-enough “Damn it!” every single time for Daniel to hear. Daniel only laughed and teased Jihoon once the race was over, beginning his second training session with the younger.

 

This time, however, Daniel put a hand on one of Jihoon’s and moved the controller in various directions to demonstrate how _not_ to crash into the wall. A goofy grin adorned Jihoon’s features as he nodded and pretended to make mental notes as Daniel went on, adding in a little, “Oh” and “Ah, I get it now!” every now and then. When the older was done, he retracted his hand and Jihoon realised that _yes, Daniel hyung held my hand again._ His face started to show signs of a blush again before Daniel snapped him out of his daydream (as usual), and he opted for sending that well-practised shy smile his hyung’s way again. With his eyes peeking through his long lashes and his lips tugged up in the slightest smile, Jihoon may have just perfected the _K-drama shy smile_. And of course, he proceeded to use it many more times on Daniel throughout their gaming session, earning back a smile with inklings of fondness each time.

 

 

 

 

Eventually, the five of them had been nagged by Jisung to go to sleep because of their packed schedules the next day and had retreated to their respective rooms. Jihoon climbed back up the bunk bed into his comfy mess of cushions and flopped down onto them, the satisfaction in his chest bubbling away. That night had been nothing short of success, and Jihoon couldn’t help but wriggle his limbs in a little celebratory jig. He’d thought the uncontainable excitement would keep him up all night, but having Daniel be as comfortable as he was with Jihoon tonight put the younger’s mind at ease. Striking out Step 2 – to mark it completed this time – in his head, he let his mind drift to thoughts of the next step. The gears in his mind didn’t spin for much longer before sleep engulfed him in a deep slumber, but he did manage to squeeze out an idea for his next step.

 

~~Step 2: Sticking Close and Smiling Shyly~~

 

Step 3: Daniel > Everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally, the next update! my next chapter should be in a couple of days but i'll try to start on my next chapters over the weekend. stay tuned! kudos & comments are appreciated < 3
> 
> ; the mic scene was based on the same fansign as the prev chapter (170818 myeongdong fansign).
> 
> ; reference to daniel & jihoon being gaming buddies
> 
> ; copy and paste "170818 명동 팬사인회 엔딩 다니엘 FOCUS2" into youtube for the video the scene was based off on - credits to owner of the video!


	3. Step 3: Daniel > Everything

To say Jihoon’s day started pleasantly would be a lie. He had been awoken forcefully by a noisy Guanlin prodding his nose repeatedly amidst a fit of giggles. And when that hadn’t worked in getting Jihoon out of bed, Jaehwan purposely did his morning vocal warm-ups louder – and higher-pitched – than usual. That almost forced Jihoon out of bed, but it didn’t. Their last resort turned out to be Woojin jabbing Jihoon in his waist, and that made the boy jump _(literally)_ out of bed. Their gaming session last night, on top of his secret mission, had drained a lot of energy from Jihoon. And with their schedules starting so early in the morning, Jihoon hadn’t had enough time to recharge at all with the little amount of sleep he got. His aura spelt _grumpy_ as he trudged around the dorm, fatigue weighing on his shoulders while he got ready to leave. The constant nagging from the hyungs didn’t help his downcast mood either, only dragging it further down the mud. So it wasn’t a huge surprise that the rest of his day remained as horrible as his morning.

 

On the flip side, Daniel had seemed to be in a great mood. His whole morning had been spent clinging on to each member and cracking jokes with them, his laughter filling the house as everyone else got ready. When they had reached the studio for their Innisfree photoshoot, Daniel was still particularly chirpy. He would pull faces behind the camera when other members were getting their individual shots, putting amused smiles on the faces of both the staff and the rest of his teammates – _well,_ all except Jihoon.

 

Jihoon noticed how Daniel was especially clingy today and was actively hanging out with anyone in his sight since morning. Jihoon wasn’t included in that list though, and he was confused. _Weren’t we just on good terms last night?_ The push and pull between him and Daniel built frustration in his chest and he found himself biting down on his inner cheek on numerous occasions when he spotted Daniel being overly-friendly to someone else. Jihoon had initially decided that today really wasn’t the day he wanted to deal with this, whatnot with the bad start in the morning and his lack of sleep. But that resolve slowly crumbled throughout the photo shoot, and he finally exploded not long after.

 

_During the group shot,_

“Jihoon, could you stand next to Daniel?” The director called out. As Jihoon quickly made his way from the end of the line, next to Daniel, he didn’t miss how Daniel seemed to shift his feet uncomfortably. And when they began taking the pictures, Daniel opted for grabbing Seongwoo on his other side and leaned towards him, leaving Jihoon looking awkwardly out of place.

 

 _Maybe it wasn’t intentional, maybe I saw wrong,_ Jihoon had tried to convince himself.

 

_During the individual shoot,_

Daniel fooled around behind the camera as every other member took their individual shots, laughing gleefully when he managed to evoke a reaction. He continued to linger around the area with a few other members and mess around, but when Jihoon’s turn came at last, the boy had mysteriously disappeared. Jihoon’s eyes caught the familiar broad shoulders of Daniel’s dragging a reluctant Jinyoung away from where Jihoon was, seemingly towards the direction of the waiting room instead. Once Jihoon was done and Guanlin took over, he saw Daniel and Jinyoung once again approaching the set.

 

“Oh! Guanlin is shooting, hurry we’ve gotta see this!”

 

The usually deep voice of Daniel’s raised a pitch in excitement and dragged Jinyoung right past Jihoon, back to his original position behind the camera. Jinyoung threw a look back at Jihoon, eyebrows furrowed in worry when he saw Jihoon still and staring blankly at the floor. Noticing Jinyoung’s stare, Jihoon regained his composure and placed a small smile on his lips before dragging his feet back to the waiting room.

 

_It’s okay, he didn’t mean it._

_During the pairing shoot,_

“Daniel, Jihoon, kindly come on set to have your photos taken together!”

 

It all played out in slow motion for Jihoon; the way Daniel turned to look at the director with his eyes an unreadable expression and his next words dripping with desperation,

 

“Can’t I do it with Seongwoo hyung instead?”

 

At that moment, everyone had turned to look back and forth between Daniel and Jihoon with clear confusion written all over their expressions. Jihoon remained rooted to his spot, an unpleasant prickling of heat crawling up his skin as his fists clenched by his sides. He couldn’t lose his cool now, not _here_ and not _now_. Jihoon had to stay professional, _be_ a professional. So as the director tried to convince Daniel otherwise and everyone else just gawked at how weirdly Daniel was behaving, Jihoon had to dig his fingernails in his palms to contain all the anger, confusion and sadness lacing his voice when he spoke again,

 

“It’s fine, I’ll do it with Minhyun hyung instead.”

 

Minhyun, previously Seongwoo’s partner for the pairing shoot, tried to ease the tension with his signature awkward laugh and swung an arm around Jihoon.

 

“Yeah, we’ll do it together! Let Daniel and Seongwoo take the pictures together.”

 

Before anyone could say anything else, Jihoon had removed himself from Minhyun’s hold and picked up his speed as he hastily made his way to the bathroom, tears pricking at the corner of his eyes. A million questions ran through his mind, _Why’s Daniel hyung acting like this? Am I over-reading things? Weren’t we just fine yesterday? Does he hate me now?_

**_Did he find out?_ **

****

The last question hit him with such force that he had to lean against the bathroom wall for support, all willpower he had to _not_ cry breaking in an instant. His back slid down the wall as his legs lost all strength and his body started to wreck with sobs. The balls of his hands pressed against his shut eyes and his teeth dug into his lower lip forcefully as he tried to contain the unpleasant feeling rising in his chest.

 

The door swung open.

 

“Jihoon.”

 

He’d recognise that voice anywhere, but it definitely wasn’t the one he had expected to hear for a while. He thought maybe Jisung hyung, or Woojin, or Guanlin would come to look for him, but he definitely wasn’t expecting to hear the deep, soothing voice belonging to Kang Daniel. But it didn’t seem to have the calming effect it usually had on Jihoon today, because Jihoon only struggled to breathe properly again and he had to force a routine of inhaling and exhaling to catch his breath between his muffled crying.

 

Noticing the younger’s struggle, Daniel knelt down beside him immediately, eyes flying about Jihoon’s figure as if trying to decide what he could do to help. In the end, his hands grabbed the smaller’s shoulders and urged him to look up.

 

“Please Jihoon, look at me.”

 

But Jihoon couldn’t and wouldn’t. He was mad, frustrated and upset. He was _vulnerable_. 

 

That didn’t seem to cut it for Daniel, however, and the older had forcefully pulled the arms Jihoon had covering his face away in a swift motion. Even then, Jihoon wrenched his arms out of Daniel’s grip and turned away from him, attempting to escape from the barrier Daniel had created around Jihoon with his body. But Daniel was quick to react, and he had firmly pressed Jihoon’s shoulders into the wall to keep him from moving.

 

“Park Jihoon, I said to look at me!”

 

Anger coated Daniel’s words and shocked Jihoon into looking up at his hyung, eyes wide with a hint of fear glazing it. He had never seen Daniel like that, not to _anyone_ and especially not to him. Daniel was usually calm, albeit noisy when he was happy, and rarely showed any negative feelings to them. The Daniel currently in front of him, however, had a swirl of anger and sadness mixed in his expression as he stared Jihoon down, fingers tightening their grip on the latter’s shoulders. When a fresh batch of tears started to gather in his eyes, he noticed how Daniel’s stony expression softened and a bunch of his own tears started to line his eyes.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

The words came out soft, barely audible, but Jihoon easily heard it given the lack of space between them. And somehow, with those two words, Jihoon felt like he could forgive Daniel for anything.

 

 

 

 

In the fleeting moment that their gazes locked, Jihoon noticed how tense Daniel’s features were, as if something were bothering him. But in the next moment, Daniel’s smile had returned and his hands were off Jihoon’s shoulders, instead raising them to run through the younger’s hair in a soothing manner. Jihoon felt a small smile of his own gracing his lips as he picked himself up and approached the sink to straighten out his appearance.

 

After the incident in the bathroom, Daniel and Jihoon had walked out to come face to face with the worried expressions of their members. Avoiding their eyes but providing similar smiles, the two had brushed off the event like it hadn’t happened. Like everybody hadn’t noticed how Daniel avoided Jihoon the entire day, and how Jihoon just broke down over it, or how there was an unusual burst of anger coming from Daniel that had been heard even from the outside. But nobody probed either, because they were still at work and they still had to be professional. So they went through with their remaining schedules for the day, Jihoon and Daniel now both avoiding each other and opting not to speak of the incident anymore. Jihoon wasn’t satisfied with the closure of it; he wanted to know why Daniel was avoiding him and why Daniel had been acting so out of the norm. But Jihoon decided it was best not to ask because he didn’t _want_ to know.

 

_Especially not if it means I can’t keep loving him._

 

 

 

By the time they got home that night, everybody had been way too exhausted to inquire about whatever transpired between Daniel and Jihoon and so the younger kept his silence on it too. He acted as per normal to the members, playing jokes on them every now and then and having his usual gaming session at night before bed. Daniel had also been at an extra schedule he had individually, so Jihoon hadn’t worried too much about confronting the older for the night.

 

That night as Jihoon sat in bed, ready to catch up on some sleep, his mind drifted back to the events of that day. His mind still wanted answers, but his heart just ached at having Daniel so far from his reach again.

 

Step 3: Daniel > Everything needed to commence as soon as possible.

 

 

 

 

Jihoon decided that this time, instead of overthinking plans to approach Daniel, he’d ‘go with the flow’ and strike whenever an opportunity arose. All he really had to do with Step 3 was choose Daniel over everyone else or everything else. Daniel would be his first priority. And if that didn’t show Daniel how much he cared and wanted to be around him, he wasn’t sure what would.

 

The first opportunity he got was really just a stroke of luck and pretty effortless. He noticed that during fansigns, their fans loved jotting down questions regarding the members’ relationships on post-it memos for them to answer. Questions like _Who’s your favourite member? Who do you like spending time with? Who do you have the most fun with? Who makes you laugh the most? Who do you want to drink with when you’re legal?_ often popped up, and so Jihoon decided to make the best out of it. Whenever possible, he’d pick Daniel as his answer and the fans seemed to take notice because photos of the post-it memos started to float around the internet. Including one that Jihoon had absentmindedly ticked Daniel’s name for before fully reading the question, realising later that the question read “Which member farts the most?” and quickly changing his answer to Woojin. _Payback._

Jihoon’s next opportunity came on the day of their Mukbang V-Live. Unfortunately, because of overlapping schedules, Jihoon hadn’t been able to participate in the V-Live broadcast. Daniel, however, was – along with Woojin, Guanlin, Jinyoung, and Jisung. Feeling a little down because he wouldn’t be able to be with Daniel _and_ eat his heart out, he decided to drop by and pay them a visit before he headed to his next schedule. So he got ready at lightning speed and dropped by their company building where the filming was being held.

 

As soon as he entered, his heart skipped a beat. Before anyone – members and staff alike – Daniel had spotted him first and repeatedly tried to signal Jihoon to join them. A huge burden lifted off his shoulders when the older was back to cracking jokes with him, and everything seemed back to normal between them again. With a sheepish grin, he tried to mouth _It’s okay, I have to leave soon_ but Daniel wasn’t letting up.

 

The boy was persistent, especially when he pointed out Jihoon’s presence to the other members and they _all_ tried to get him to join the broadcast this time. Despite his eyes fleeting about to each member as they all tried to persuade him at once, his eyes couldn’t help but linger on Daniel a little longer than the rest each time – because Daniel looked so good, yes, but _especially_ because the older was offering to feed him and that thought alone made Jihoon’s heart thump loudly. Deciding it wouldn’t be ideal if Daniel _did_ feed him and cause the younger to be all flustered in front of 600,000 viewers, he took his leave after some light banter with the rest from behind the camera.

 

As he took a step into the van outside the building, ready to leave, his eyes landed on the precious bag of seaweed he had brought along with him. He had spent 15 minutes at the convenience store nearby picking out a present of sort to give to Daniel. Jihoon did so as he needed a way to give Daniel special treatment in favour of Step 3: Daniel > Everything. And although he wasn’t sure of how to give his present to Daniel yet, and whether the plan would be fool-proof with them still being on rocky terms, he decided to give it a shot anyways. So with an apologetic smile towards his manager, Jihoon stepped out of the van once again with the bag in his embrace, legs carrying him as fast as they could to where the members were filming once again.

 

As he burst through the door, he was greeted by the surprised looks of his members and the staff. Only when he caught his reflection in a mirror on the wall did he realise that, in his rush, his hair had now flown messily in all directions and his cheeks were flushed a light pink – as to whether that was because he had been running or because everyone’s attention was now on him, he wasn’t sure anymore. Before he could do anything else, a staff member was dragging him to the side and clearing up his appearance before he could be seen on camera. She fiddled with his hair, finally deciding on fixing a cap on his head instead to hide the mess it was. Jihoon also fished out the mask he had prepared in his back pocket and put it on, concealing his pink cheeks as much as he could.

 

When they decided this was the best they could do to prepare him for the camera, he stepped into the frame with the bag of seaweed in his hands. Purposefully paying less attention to the rest from the start, he went on to avert his full attention to Daniel when he heard the boy trying to gain his attention as well.

 

“Jihoon-gun.”

 

“Ah, Kang Daniel-ssi!”

 

The two boys addressing each other directly stopped all the other members mid-sentence, every single one clearly flustered since nobody had really spoken about the incident at the photo shoot from a few weeks prior – and neither had Daniel and Jihoon been interacting as much as before.

 

“I’m a huge fan of yours, Daniel-ssi.”

 

Seeing the huge grin spread along Daniel’s features, everyone else seemed to relax slightly and played along with Jihoon’s antics instead. Jihoon, on the other hand, felt a familiar warm and fuzzy feeling blooming in his chest.

 

_We’re okay again. Daniel hyung’s okay again._

 

Although Jihoon’s growing smile was mostly hidden behind the mask he was wearing, it had slowly become visible as it reached up to his eyes this time. His outstretched hands passed on the pack of seaweed to Daniel, and the accidental brush of their fingers – being the most contact they’ve had in at least two weeks – caused Jihoon to retract his hand back a tad too quick. Nobody had commented on it, but in his haste of trying to play it cool, Jihoon’s mind messed up and did the _exact opposite_ ; he had subconsciously sent a wink Daniel’s way. He nearly facepalmed right there and then if not for the fact that they were being filmed, because the members then started to notice his weird behaviour and called him out on his wink.

 

His mind was in a hurry to find an excuse and his lips were spewing nonsense at this point, so the next few moments were a blur as he quickly tried to wrap up his appearance on the live broadcast by greeting their fans one last time.

 

He was thrown in another loop when Woojin _the idiot_ had to comment on the fact that Jihoon was using the former’s neck pillow. He didn’t miss the mischievous glint in Woojin’s eyes as their eyes met and Jihoon was in a mess once again. This time he had no retort and settled on dismissing the issue quickly, waving goodbye and disappearing out of the frame before he broke into cold sweat.

 

By the time he had gotten out of the building again, he was pressed for time to reach his next schedule and his manager had hastily ushered him into the van. Even then, Jihoon’s priority was opening the V Live app on his phone and watching the live broadcast of his members’ Mukbang on it.

 

“Don’t look! It’s a present from _my_ fan.”

 

Shock registered in Jihoon first but was immediately replaced with joy in the form of a sappy grin on the boy’s face. His eyes followed Daniel’s actions intensely on the tiny screen of his mobile phone, and Jihoon had to do everything in his will not to burst out into a happy fit of laughter. Daniel was protecting the pack of seaweed _Jihoon_ had given him from Jisung. Daniel was hugging the seaweed _Jihoon_ had given him like his life depended on it. The realisation only made him giddier with glee and he had to take a deep breath and lean back into his seat to compose himself.

 

He never managed to, however. The _relief_ of being okay with Daniel again and the _excitement_ of having successfully completed Step 3 reflected in his cheery mood for the rest of his schedules, despite how physically worn out he was.

 

Given that everything was in complete ruins before Step 3 commenced, Jihoon believed Step 3: Daniel > Everything was his greatest success yet. _Well, maybe with the exception of Woojin calling him out on the neck pillow._

_Now,_ Jihoon decided, _It’s time for the **push** in push-and-pull._

_Time for Step 4: Jealousy Is The Best Policy._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this update is SO LATE and i'm so sorry ㅠㅠ i hope the slightly longer chapter & slight angst compensates for it (or makes it worse heh idk)! the next chapter will be a slightly more exciting one and i hope y'all are looking forward to it too. kudos & comments are appreciated!  
>  
> 
> ; jihoon did indeed answer "daniel" for a lot of his post-its and they've been floating around the internet. his answers are usually woojin or daniel lmao. 
> 
> ; copy and paste "NielWink ~ DanielxJihoon moment #11" into youtube for a video compilation of some post-it questions that jihoon answered "daniel" for - credits to owner of the video!
> 
> ; the v live incident (where daniel noticed jihoon before anyone else and jihoon said he was daniel's fan, then gave daniel the pack of seaweed) happened during one of their broadcasts. 
> 
> ; copy and paste "(EngSub) Wanna One Mukbang VLive" into youtube for the v live broadcast video; skip to 8:42 and 21:25 for the start of each nielwink moment - credit to owner of the video!
> 
> ; you might have realised, but some of the real-life nielwink moments i use are not in chronological order, so don't pay too much attention to the order of which some incidents happen irl because i'll be jumbling them up. i'll still try to follow the order for some events just so it'll still make sense (e.g. beautiful comeback show before boomerang comeback show).
> 
> ; p.s. this was originally only supposed to be 7 chapters & completely jihoon's pov because i wanted to keep the suspense on daniel's feelings & i already have a sequel planned. BUT i'm thinking of adding in more chapters + a chapter or two in daniel's pov at the end. do let me know your opinions on it!


	4. Step 4: Jealousy Is The Best Policy

Time had flown past really quickly the past few weeks as the boys continued with their hectic schedules amidst preparing for their ‘Beautiful’ comeback. There was a huge increase in the number of variety show appearances for Jihoon, and most of them were with Daniel. It was safe to say that they spent most of their time – if not _all_ – together recently. Jumping on that chance, Jihoon made an effort to sneak in more time chatting and messing around with Daniel. Eventually, they found themselves being able to hold a comfortable silence between them whenever they were alone and just too tired to start any conversation. As if they hadn’t just gone through a rough patch in their friendship, they were stuck by the hip both on camera and off in the recent weeks. The way Jihoon would always automatically find his way to Daniel’s side, and the way the latter would then comfortably rest his arm around the smaller didn’t go unnoticed.

 

And with all that going on, Jihoon’s feelings had only grown. The way Daniel’s smile reached up to his eyes and pushed them into crescents, and the way the boy’s touch felt so, _so_ warm, all only caused Jihoon to fall deeper. Daniel’s undivided attention that he had now gotten was what Jihoon had always wanted, but although Step 3 helped him achieved it, his mission was far from completion. The question still remained; _Does Niel hyung swing that way?_

He had managed to sneak away from Daniel one day and sat on his bunk bed – where all his _genius_ ideas appeared from – during the rare break they were given from working. Jihoon knew his next step, he had it planned since a few weeks before. But reluctance was met with the idea of putting it into action because he was afraid it would backfire on him again and he liked their how close they were now.

 

_Maybe I can just keep things the way it is now, and settle on loving him from the sidelines._

That thought preoccupied Jihoon’s mind way too frequently and he was _this_ close to aborting his mission altogether. But then, as he finally got time to himself, his thoughts reorganised and determination spread across his features once more.

 

_No, I’m Park Jihoon; resident Manly Man. I can do this!_

His chest rose and his lips released a loud huff as he chanted in his head,

 

_You can do this! You’ve got this!_

Only for his thoughts to be interrupted by a loud clearing of someone’s throat. His eyes flew up to locate the source of the noise and his cheeks were immediately tainted a bright red when his eyes caught Woojin giving him a weird stare. Jihoon’s palm found its way to his face, forming a loud _smack!_ sound as he grumbled about how he needed to _Stop getting caught in embarrassing situations with the one asshole who’s mean enough to bug me about it for the rest of my life._ When he raised his head again, Woojin was now on their ladder of the bunk bed, one hand gripping onto the frame to support himself while the other rested itself on Jihoon’s bed, a smirk adorning his lips.

 

“What do you want,” Jihoon drawled.

 

The knowing look on Woojin’s face only annoyed Jihoon further so he prodded at his friend’s chest, successfully moving him aside so that Jihoon himself could get down from his bed.

 

“Daniel hyung’s looking for you.”

 

At the sound of the older’s name, Jihoon straightened up and cast a curious look Woojin’s way.

 

“Why?”

 

Woojin’s shoulders moved to form a dramatic shrug as the annoying smirk never left his face, and Jihoon knew exactly the game Woojin was playing at. It was almost as if he could read his friend’s thoughts, _Why would I tell you so easily? What’s in it for me?_ An exasperated grunt left Jihoon’s lips at that moment, but a smirk of his own spread across his lips as he decided this was the _perfect_ opportunity to commence Step 4 before he changed his mind again.

 

Woojin’s face seemed to distort in confusion at Jihoon’s sudden change in attitude, and he backed away instinctively as the latter inched closer and reached out to him.

 

“Woojin, you’re my best friend and will _always_ help me, won’t you?”

 

If not for the fact that Woojin had long seen through Jihoon’s on-screen façade, he’d probably have fallen for the sickeningly sweet and innocent act Jihoon was currently putting on.

 

“No, and no.”

 

Jihoon’s pretence dropped immediately at the other’s response and he lunged towards Woojin, catching him in a surprise headlock that the latter groaned in response to.

 

“Come on, help me just this once! I need to make Niel hyung jealous.”

 

“What?!”

 

Amidst his bafflement, Woojin managed to break out of Jihoon’s grip and narrowed his eyes at the other.

 

“What do you mean ‘make Niel hyung jealous’?”

 

“It’s exactly as it sounds, I need him to be jealous. It’s part of my mission, just help me out. I’ll buy you food, _anything_ you want.”

 

The offer of being able to have Jihoon wrapped around his finger was too hard for Woojin to pass up. So he let out a loud, exaggerated sigh in obvious pretence and threw his hands up as if in surrender.

 

“Fine, fine!”

 

Jihoon expressed his gratefulness in the form of a playful jab and slipped his arm through Woojin’s, dragging him out of their room and into the living room where everyone else was gathered, but occupied in different conversations. His eyes scanned the room, looking for just one person, but the latter seemed to beat him to it when he heard a,

 

“Jihoon!”

 

In an instant, his eyes found Daniel’s and they exchanged friendly smiles as the older made his way over to them. Jihoon didn’t miss the way Daniel’s eyes shifted downwards to his and Woojin’s linked arms, confusion lacing his furrowed brows briefly before they relaxed again and he looked back and forth between the 99-liners with his usual wide grin.

 

“I was thinking of gaming, do the two of you want to join me?”

 

Before Woojin could open his mouth to say anything at all, Jihoon tugged on their link arms slightly and shot him a quick look before turning back to Daniel with the sweetest smile he could muster.

 

“Sorry Niel hyung, Woojin and I have plans to- uh, um- bake! We- we have this thing- and, uh- we wanted to work on our new secret brownie recipe!”

 

Jihoon was well aware of the sniggers Woojin was putting a lot of effort into suppressing, but he was so close to slapping himself for being so… _not_ smooth that he couldn’t be bothered to silence his partner-in-crime. His excuse, despite how lame it was, seemed to convince Daniel and the older only replied with a disappointed, “Oh” in response. Jihoon couldn’t deny the slight ache in his chest as he saw Daniel’s crestfallen expression, but it only intensified when the latter seemed alright again a little _too_ quick and proceeded to invite Seongwoo to game with him instead.

 

The worry of Step 4 backfiring on him nagged at the back of his mind, but he decided that it was too early to throw in the towel. So gathering all the dignity he had left in him, he trudged to the kitchen with Woojin in tow and got started on their ‘secret brownie recipe’. Once they were out of earshot, Woojin broke out into a loud fit of laughter and had to grip onto the counter for support, not stopping even as Jihoon repeatedly whacked his back in annoyance.

 

“’Secret brownie recipe’? That was the best you could come up with?”

 

Another round of laughter erupted from the other and Jihoon could only grumble disgruntledly under his breath, resigning to his fate and looking through the cupboards for ingredients.  

 

“Well, now we actually have tomake brownies.”

 

At Jihoon’s comment, Woojin’s laughter ceased and he groaned loudly at the realisation. He sprawled his upper body across the empty counter and kicked up a fuss. _If looks could kill,_ Woojin’s glares that followed Jihoon’s every movement would have bored holes in the latter’s head by now.

 

“We also have to go out and buy ingredients because there’s no chance of us finding anything to bake with here.”

 

Another loud noise of protest rung through the kitchen, but Jihoon only rolled his eyes, dragging Woojin up by his ear. He forced the grumbling boy out the kitchen and threatened him quietly – but loud enough just for him to hear – to be on his best behaviour as they made their way towards the living room again.

 

“Jisung hyung! Woojin and I are going out to get groceries.”

 

Before their leader could protest, because “You have to go out with a bodyguard at all times!”, the two boys had grabbed their masks and caps and proceeded out the door while sloppily trying to conceal their faces.

 

 

 

 

Their trip to the mart turned out to be relatively bearable and Jihoon would go as far as to agree that they did have, well, a little bit of fun. Luckily, they hadn’t attracted much attention and made it back to their dorm safely while lugging heavy grocery bags along.

 

Once they burst through the door, Jihoon’s eyes first found Daniel’s figure sitting a little too close to Daehwi while they had their attention fixated on the TV screen, the familiar graphics of MarioKart on display. Nobody, except Jisung, had really paid attention to the return of the 99-liners until Woojin announced their arrival and received a few half-hearted “Welcome back”s in return. Everyone was uber-focused on the TV screen as well, rooting for different players. It had seemed Daniel and Daehwi were on the same team while Seongwoo and Jinyoung were on the other. Woojin’s eyes looked pleadingly at a distracted Jihoon, wanting to join the rest, but Jihoon was adamant and dragged his friend away and into the kitchen.

 

Throughout half of their baking session, Woojin sat on a seat by the counter, sulking, while Jihoon tried his best not to mess up the recipe (that he had really just gotten off Google) more than he already had. In the other half of their baking session, Woojin seemed to grow tired of sulking and decided to finally be of _some_ kind of help, going over and pouring the batter into the pan for Jihoon while the latter prepped the oven. But, of course, Park Woojin was as immature as ever and, before they knew it, a food war had broken out. Jihoon knew it was in revenge of him restricting Woojin from gaming with the rest, and things only got crazier thereon. Soon, the two were covered in all sorts of ingredients – from flour, to eggs, to the brownie batter and even bits of sugar. Despite their intense battle, the two were only catching their breaths because they couldn’t stop laughing at how ridiculous each other looked. Their loud laughter soon attracted a crowd and amidst that was Minhyun who looked like he could’ve exploded in anger at any moment, with his face turning ultra-red and his fists clenched by his sides. The 99-liners exchanged panicked looks before quickly grabbing a rag each and rushing to clean up, still unable, however, to conceal the amused grins on their faces.

 

Their members had joined in in helping – with the simple bribe of some brownies in return – and Jihoon had noticed, from his peripheral vision, Daniel’s occasional glances in his direction as he mopped the floor. Instead of looking back at Daniel, Jihoon took the chance to swipe his thumb over the remains of some brownie batter on Woojin’s cheek and shared another obnoxiously loud laugh with him.

 

The rest of the cleaning up involved Jihoon purposely messing around with Woojin for Daniel to see, and everyone else commenting on how _good_ the nearly-ready brownies smelled. Daniel, however, was relatively silent and Jihoon could only pray that it was because their plan had worked.

 

 

 

 

Eventually, the kitchen was as spotless as they could get it to be and Minhyun was satisfied. Just in time as well, the _ding!_ of the oven chimed and everyone gathered in the living room while the 99-liners brought the brownies out for them. Watching as everyone automatically lunged for the brownies and stuffed their faces, Jihoon couldn’t help but stand back and laugh at the sight. They had just _baked brownies,_ for Pete’s sake. The boy cringed slightly at the thought and mentally made a note that he needed to pick manlier activities as excuses in the future.

 

His internal monologue was cut short by a heavy arm plopping itself on his shoulder, as a familiar smiley boy appeared by his side. Daniel was holding out a half-eaten brownie to Jihoon, his lips lifting into his signature smile.

 

“I saved you some.”

 

Jihoon’s eyes travelled from the brownie Daniel was offering him, to the previously full plate on the table, and rolled his eyes in amusement when he noticed it was all gone.

 

With a quiet “Thanks, hyung,” he took the brownie and sunk his teeth into its, well, not-so-gooey goodness. The younger boy’s nose crinkled a little at the strange texture and decided he could definitely improve on that – _I mean- not that I’ll be baking again, of course._ But a second bite proved that the brownies were definitely satisfyingly chocolatey (courtesy of Woojin dumping in all the chocolate he could find) and he hummed contentedly in approval.

 

Everyone else seemed to be content with the sub-par brownies as well, some shouting praises while others grumbled that they had made too little. Jihoon childishly stuck his tongue out at Daehwi who belonged to the latter group – _and_ _who may or may not have also annoyed Jihoon with how close he was sitting to Daniel before_ – only freezing mid-action when a pair of fingers wiped gently at his lower lip, removing whatever brownie remnants there were.

 

His eyes grew wide when his mind finally processed the intimate action, and it was as if everything was suddenly in slow-motion. Jihoon’s eyes flew to his side as the warmth on his shoulder disappeared in a somewhat ambiguous gesture. Jihoon’s eyes then stared into Woojin’s, clearly flustered and taken aback at the sudden action.

 

Because, no, it hadn’t been Daniel’s fingers. They were Woojin’s.

 

Something akin to frustration made an obvious appearance across Jihoon’s features as he continued to squint his eyes at Woojin. The other members were now having a load of fun making fun of the 99-liners with their ‘ _Oooo, Woojin-ie!_ ’s and _‘Ahhh, Jihoon-ie!_ ’s.

 

This wasn’t how the jealousy plan was supposed to work, because he felt like Woojin may have just pushed it a little too far. Jihoon didn’t want to be seen with another guy in a  _romantic_ way (as the members were teasing them in), and now he’d have to find a new partner-in-crime with Woojin’s unexpected actions and-

 

_Oh._

_OH._

Everything clicked in Jihoon’s head when his eyes met Woojin’s again, the cocky smirk on the latter’s face confirming his suspicions. Jihoon hated to admit it, but Woojin knew him too well and Woojin could’ve been a genius if not for the fact that he was, well, dumb most times. While Woojin dismissed everyone’s teasing and simply lounged on the couch, Jihoon was left standing there dumbfounded because _Did that loser really just outsmart me into getting out of being my partner-in-crime?_

Woojin _knew_ that Jihoon wouldn’t have wanted the others to tease them as a couple in _that_ way. Woojin _knew_ by doing exactly just that that Jihoon couldn’t use him anymore because they had crossed the line.

 

After being stunned for quite a while, Jihoon decided that such thoughts were secondary and that he could always deal with Woojin later. He couldn’t help but stare at his primary focus, who was now back to playing MarioKart, with an observing Daehwi laying on his lap this time. In his mini, silent tantrum, Jihoon had nearly stomped over and snatched Daniel away. But Jihoon knew better than that because he wasn’t done with Step 4. Not yet.

 

 

 

 

Two days later, Jihoon was on a roll because yet another golden opportunity for Step 4 had found him by luck, and this time _without_ the help of the devil’s spawn (who goes by the name Woojin).

 

It was a well-known fact by now that Jihoon was a huge fanboy of BTS’ V. Viral videos of Jihoon secretly admiring V – who had been seated in front of him at an event – spread like wildfire and, apparently, Jihoon and V were now an official ship. V’s video where he offered to game with Jihoon also had its fair share of views, and Jihoon had also seen it for himself – accompanied with way-too-excited squeals.

 

The other definitely kept to his word, and it was two days after the brownie incident that Jihoon received a ‘love call’ from his idol. It had just been a simple text talking about the articles on them and then asking if Jihoon wanted to game together some time, but Jihoon was over the moon and had gone around the dorm announcing it to everyone in sight.

 

Things only got better when V added that his fellow member, Jin, wanted Jihoon to join his idol gaming group of friends as well. All the attention he was suddenly getting made Jihoon dizzy with euphoria, and without a second of hesitation, he had agreed to gaming with his newfound friends that night.

 

Daniel happened to be free that night as well, but Jihoon hadn’t noticed amidst his excitement. The younger had his headphones on, microphone ready and fingers warmed up to play when Daniel entered his room.

 

“Oh, Jihoon-ie. You’re gaming?”

 

The words contained more disappointment than anything because Jihoon _always_ gamed with Daniel and their recent lack of hang-outs must have made this situation all the more uncomfortable for the older.

 

“Yeap, with Jin hyung, V hyung and some other hyungs! They invited me into their gaming team, isn’t that so cool?”

 

At that point, it was purely Jihoon’s excitement talking. And before he could fully process what an asshole he had just been, Daniel’s eyes could no longer meet his and the latter was already halfway out the door as he managed a half-hearted, “That’s awesome, have fun.”

 

Jihoon’s legs were just about to get up and off his chair to go after Daniel and explain that _We can still game together,_ but the concerned voices from his headphones stopped him in his tracks.

 

“Jihoon, is everything okay? Your character hasn’t moved in a while.”

 

Eunkwang – another member of their gaming group – disrupted Jihoon’s thoughts with his question and Jihoon could only apologise furiously before joining his team in the game again.

 

_Maybe this turned out well. This is good for Step 4. I’ll ruin everything if I go after him now. I can’t do that, I’ve gotten so far._

 

 

The week went on as usual after that day, and Jihoon and Daniel were back to spending most of their time together due to their similar schedules. Although Jihoon had tried to pay more attention to others over Daniel whenever possible, when the two were alone, he continued to act casually around the older in an effort not to completely jeopardise their friendship and make things awkward again.

 

Step 4 had clearly worked its charms, because after a week or so of Jihoon spending more time with Woojin and Guanlin exclusively whilst almost always rejecting Daniel’s invitations to hang out, Daniel finally broke his silence on it.

 

“Jihoon, am I not fun?”

 

Despite the obvious frustration lacing the older’s words, the question came out more meek than angry and it automatically drew said party’s attention. They were alone in the waiting room of the ‘Oppa Thinking’ set as the other members had yet to arrive from their other schedules, and so every emotion behind Daniel’s question resonated loudly in the quietness of the space. Jihoon’s eyes blinked up at Daniel’s serious expression and suddenly a strong sense of guilt settled uncomfortably in the pit of his stomach.

 

“Why would you think that, hyung?”

 

The smaller watched attentively as the broad shoulders of the other rose and sunk in a dejected shrug of his shoulders. His eyes were unable to meet Jihoon’s own pair once again and his fingers picked absentmindedly at the fabric of the couch they were seated on.

 

“I mean- I don’t-…… Sometimes I get the feeling that you’ve grown bored of hanging out with me.”

 

“It’s almost as if you  _don’t want_ me there when you have time to hang out.”

 

Daniel donned a tentative smile at the end of his reply and Jihoon had to bite down on his inner cheek in an effort to restrict himself from doing anything he’d regret later on. He wanted to reach out and push the hair out of Daniel’s sad puppy-looking eyes, hold his hand and tell him that he’s _sorry_ and that he’ll spend _all_ his time with the older from now on. But Jihoon _couldn’t_ and instead opted for avoiding the older’s gaze, focusing on his own fidgeting hands.

 

“You’re thinking too much, Niel hyung.”

 

Jihoon regained his composure and straightened up in his seat, putting on the most confident smile he could gather as he gave Daniel’s shoulder a reassuring pat. But in reality, Jihoon had been begging in his mind for Daniel to _Please. Don’t see through my lies._

 

Fortunately, before the conversation could go any further, the other members arrived, successfully breaking the tension hanging in the room. None of them seemed to have the slightest idea of the previously tense atmosphere in the waiting room and continued to crack jokes with both Daniel and Jihoon, recounting how Daehwi had almost fallen on his face in front of Super Junior’s Eunhyuk in the corridor.

 

Even though he laughed along with their jokes and played it cool, Jihoon’s mind was swirling with a mix of emotions and worries of what to do next. Step 4 was way too hard, and for him to have even made it this far was a miracle. How had he managed to bring himself to spend less time with Daniel? He had no idea, but dread only filled his guts when he realised that it would have to drag out a little longer. His best next move would be to play dumb to whatever Daniel had brought up in the conversation earlier on and try to see how far he could push Daniel’s limits by extending Step 4 a little longer. Jihoon knew that Daniel’s limits and reactions would provide a clear indicator of how he felt towards Jihoon, and he was willing to take the risk at this point.

 

Because now at this point, whether Daniel swung that way was less important to Jihoon than _Does Daniel hyung like me that way? Could he **ever** like me that way?_

It had never hit him that hard until then that Daniel may like guys, but that might not include Jihoon. A thousand insecurities preoccupied his mind at that instant and he decided he _had to know, and fast._ It was selfish and he knew, but he was on the brink of insanity from having to second-guess Daniel’s every action.

 

Step 5: Ignore & Play Dumb was to be put into effect immediately. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i said this chapter would be slightly more exciting, and i really hope it is because we're starting to see a little more reactions from daniel's side. i'm still contemplating on doing a daniel pov chapter so let me know your views on that! there were less reimaginations of irl nielwink moments in this chapter (sorry about that) but that's because i have to move on with the plot a little. i'll try to insert more in the upcoming chapters because y'all seem to like it (-: comments and kudos are appreciated!  
>  
> 
> ; jihoon is a rl fanboy of v, and jihoon did indeed have a video of him staring at v go viral.
> 
> ; copy and paste "Netizens catch Wanna One's Park Ji Hoon constantly checking out BTS V" into youtube for a video talking about that - credits to owner of the video!
> 
> ; v did also thank jihoon during an interview for choosing him as his role model and said they talked about playing games together.
> 
> ; copy and paste "BTS V talks about Wanna One Park Jihoon | 2018 Golden Disc Awards" into youtube for a video of that interview - credit to owner of the video!
> 
> ; lastly, jihoon did also join an idol gaming group consisting of bts' jin, btob's eunkwang, bap's youngjae & vixx's ken.


End file.
